Friends of Dyke Marsh is a volunteer group dedicated to preserving, restoring and enhancing Dyke Marsh, a freshwater tidal marsh in Fairfax County on the Potomac River just south of Alexandria, Virginia. The Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve is administered by the National Park Service.

What Is Dyke Marsh?

The Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve is a freshwater, tidal marsh on the Virginia side of the Potomac River in Fairfax County. It is a unit of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, U.S. National Park Service. For more information, visit the NPS website at www.nps.gov/gwmp.

"Our" osprey pair at the Belle Haven marina boat ramp is featured in a 13-minute video titled "Osprey Love Nest."William Young, an Arlington writer, shot the footage and wrote the script. Ashley Bradford, an artist who lives near Dyke Marsh, does the narration. The video provides information about the behavior, anatomy and field marks of the nesting pair, as well as their interactions with other birds in the marina.

He has shot other videos featuring egrets, coots and earned and horned grebes in the area which are on his page.

FODMer Laura Sebastianelli is monitoring beavers in the western part of Dyke Marsh, behind River Towers. On May 1, she spotted two families, two adults and a kit and two adults and two kits nursing. At one point, she saw five adults and three kits on top of the lodge and at least one beaver swimming around. Thank you, Laura. This is a very special, little-visited part of Dyke Marsh.

Ten enthusiastic Girl Scouts from Troop 2459 visited the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve on April 28, 2015 and cleaned up trash along the shoreline. They are working on an animal habitat badge. Their troop leader is Sarah Olson and they are based at Fort Hunt Elementary School in the Mount Vernon area. FODM President Glenda Booth, Vice President Ned Stone and FODMer Patty McCarthy talked about the harm of trash on wildlife and habitat.

FODM Vice-President Ned Stone helps a youngster make a bird.On June 20, 2015, the Friends of Dyke Marsh spread the news about the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve to new friends and old at the annual Gum Springs Community Day. Gum Springs is a historic community in the Mount Vernon area of Fairfax County founded by West Ford, a freed slave, in 1833.

FODMers joined others in a "hats off" salute to the Fairfax County Police.

Students dug holes and planted new native plants. Photo by Glenda Booth.Biology students from the T. C. Williams High School International Academy visited the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve on April 25, 2015 to learn about native and non-native plants. They planted native wetland-friendly plants along the trail between the “dogleg” and the boardwalk. The students are from all over the world.

Thank you, T. C. Williams students! You are a great group. Come back soon!

Ned Stone receives the Potomac Champion Award. Photo: Alice Ferguson Foundation.FODM Vice President Ned Stone received the Potomac Champion Award at the Alice Ferguson Foundation's 8th Annual Trash Summit on October 18, 2013. Lori Arguellles, Executive Director of the foundation, lauded Ned's untiring efforts to remove trash from the Potomac River and the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve. “Whether he's cruising along Belle Haven Marina in his kayak with DC Surfriders or making upgrades to the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, he graciously works to mold a future generation of environmental stewards,” she commented. She also cited Ned's work to control invasive plants and lead nature walks.The Trash Summit is a forum of elected officials, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses and citizens gather to develop approaches to reduce litter and waste in the Potomac watershed.Congratulations Ned!

Carson Cameron at the newly installed bulletin bd. Photo by Scott Cameron.On August 9, 2014, Carson Cameron and his Boy Scout Troop 1509 colleagues installed a new bulletin board and bicycle racks at the Haul Road entrance as an Eagle Scout Service Project. Carson organized 16 boys and adults who worked diligently from 8 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. FODM thanks Carson, his helpers and the National Park Service for the new bulletin board.

Sixty Belleview Elementary School students, teachers and parents visited the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve on a blustery November 4 to learn how animals and plants in the wetland ecosystem are preparing for winter. National Park Service rangers Emily Zivot and Miguel Roberson led the walk. FODM President Glenda Booth attended the walk and provided the following photo essay.

Standing on the wooden bridge, Ranger Emily Zivot told the youngsters that the “sad looking plants” caked in mud and disappearing into the muck are spatterdock, a common wetland plant.

Ranger Miguel Roberson let the students feel a beaver pelt and explained that beavers live in Dyke Marsh (photo at top).

FODM presented pictures of the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve to our federal elected officials, in appreciation of their support of our efforts and the preserve: Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb and Congressmen Jim Moran, Gerry Connolly and John Dingell. On August 1, FODMers Glenda Booth, Ned Stone, Trudi Hahn and Dorothy McManus met with Senator Tim Kaine and gave him a photograph of the marsh, taken by Ned Stone.

Buoy at the Belle Haven Marina. Photo by NPS.On September 27, NPS's Natural Resources and Lands staff marked Dyke Marsh's federal boundary in the Potomac River with 11 buoys. This marks the end of four years of work to secure the approvals, permits and funding to help visitors see and understand the full extent of Dyke Marsh and how much land has eroded since the NPS began managing the marsh.

Working as a team, park staff safely moved and set over 3,300 pounds of concrete anchors, buoys and chain. With excellent satellite reception, anchors were placed within 17 inches of the target for every location. Each anchor was given enough chain to allow for site-specific water depth, anchor sinkage, tide and peak flood variation.

In addition to placing all 11 boundary buoys, NPS staff also gave assistance to U.S. Geological Survey researchers by extracting three soil cores from the marsh. These cores will be analyzed to provide a millennium-scale climate record of the region and supplement a new joint publication.

FODM Membership Meetings

We have rescheduled our May 19 meeting for September 8. See below. Given the uncertainty posed by the coronavirus pandemic, we may have to make some changes. Check here and our Facebook page for updates.

Coming Events

On September 8 at 7:30 p.m., Dr. Christian Jones of George Mason University’s Potomac Science Center will give a presentation on wetlands types, trends, ecology and conservation at the Huntley Meadows Park Visitor Center, 3701 Lockheed Boulevard, Alexandria, VA 22306. An informal social will start at 7 p.m. Free.

Bird Walks Canceled Through June 10

*** NOTICE ***

In light of risks related to the coronavirus, the Friends of Dyke Marsh have canceled Sunday morning bird walks at Dyke Marsh starting March 15 and effective through June 10. We hope to resume walks on June 14. Check back here and our Facebook page for information on the future schedule.

Support FODM

Your contribution will help us preserve and restore Dyke Marsh and support special programs and studies. Thank you.

Support Dyke Marsh with Your Purchases

Amazon.com will donate .5 percent of the price of your purchases to the Friends of Dyke Marsh if you shop through smile.amazon.com. Click on the link and sign into your account or create an account.

Like Us on Facebook!

FODM is on Facebook. If you are already a Facebook member, just log in to your Facebook page and search for "Friends of Dyke Marsh". Or, click this icon and then "like" us:

Bienvenidos!

The Friends of Dyke Marsh extend a welcome to all of our friends. Click here for an invitation to the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve in Spanish, which we hope will make Spanish-speaking visitors feel welcome. We hope to see you soon.

Event

Wintering Waterfowl

Tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus) Photo by Cathy Ledec.

FODM President Glenda Booth has an article in the January 2020 Zebra newspaper on waterfowl on the Potomac River in winter. Read the article here.

Loggerhead Shrikes

Sergio Harding banded the shrikes with a red band.

FODM President Glenda Booth published an article in the May-June 2018 Virginia Wildlife magazine, titled, “What’s Going on with the Butcher Bird? Visit the website here. Sightings of this bird in Northern Virginia are rare.

Water Chestnut

Water chestnut. Photo from MISC, Maryland Invasive Species Council.

Help Stop the Spread of a New Species of Water Chestnut

Be on the lookout for a new species of water chestnut (genus Trapa) (http://mdinvasives.org / iotm/june-2018/) found in the Potomac watershed, Trapa bispinosa Roxb. var. iinumai Nakano. It has been spreading since 1995 and is floating aquatic vegetation growing over the surface of a pond, lake or other fresh waterbody.

This species is identified by the seed cases having two spines instead of four found on Trapa natans. Report all invasive aquatic species to the US Geological Survey’s Nonindigenous aquatic species website (https://nas.er.usgs.gov / SightingReport.aspx).

Water chestnut (an annual) sprouts in May, spreads over the water surface and then flowers and fruits by July. It drops seeds all season until it senesces after a hard frost. To stop the spread, management by harvesting the plants by early July is very successful in eradicating the plants, but it may take several years of effort, if some seeds fall before the plants are harvested or lay dormant in the current year and sprout in a later year.